Blast-furnace construction



sept, 2s, 192s;

F. H.w|| l.co'x BLASII KFURNACE CONSTRUCTION "fined nay 17. 1924 :sheets-sa lfederw/ fwdlcom l sqn 25, 192s. 1,685,208

F. H. WILLCOX BLAST FURNACE CONSTRUCTION Filed May 17, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Sept. 25, 1928 rs e j tegame l F1a-Ennemi; n'. wILLcoX, or CHICAGO; ILLINOIS, A'ssrenon me EYN nivemnnnma doMPAnY, or cutaneo, ItLiNoIs, A- CORPORATION. or MAINE.

BLAsr-Funuacn CousteauGarou.'-

. application mea May 17,

supported at a median point by .an A-frame- The upper end of the vskip incline is a cantilever and also supports the bells. which close the top of the blast `furnace and control the distribution of the furnace charge. t is irn- 'portant for the proper introduction and. .dis-

tribution of the furnace charge thatV the 4bell J5 be properly centered intheV t-op of the furnace. Writh a cantilever skip incline and bellA support independent of the furnace. it will be apparentthat any variation of the ylocation of the bell will* be independent 'of variation of the associated portions of the furnace lills a rule, the A-frame which vsupports the median portion ofthe skip incline is located on the furnace foundation. Therefore, if the furnace foundation settled any amount, the A-frame will settle a corresponding amount. However, the upper end of the skip incline cantilever will move a greatly increased amount due to the multiplication of the movement. For example, if the A-frame were about midway of the skip incline, theA upper end of the incline would move approximately twice the vertical displacement of the A frame and also have a material lateral moveof material held upon the bell. These latter causes result in a constant variation of loca tion of the bells. The initial deflection can be taken up by adjustment but these other variations cannot be compensated for and may :so themselves lead to confusion when the location of the bell is checked to correct the per-k manent deflection. l

An additional source of variation in the location of the bell lies in the expansion and contraction of the skip incline due to heat;

1924. seria; No; 713 96e.

During summer mont-hs, skip inclines have' been found to kvary inlength as much astwo race.

inches between night time and day time. In. f

the day time the hot sun-light upon the black structure causes the latter to ,absorb enough.v heat to expand ysufficiently to throw the bells materiallyout of position. Further, when4 one side of the furnace itself becomes' hotter than theother, or when they furnace settles' a little unevenly, the ring. and hopper are moved independently of the position ofthe' bells when the latter are hung from the top of the skip incline. l

It is an object of the present invention lto provide, a skip incline and bell supportingCQnstruction in which the bells are supported 'in-V f dependent-.ly of the skipincline.

' It isY alfurther object to providel a construction in which the bellsare so supported relav`v tive to the blast furnacetop as to maintain. substantially fixed relation therewith.

Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds.

l have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention lin the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 isa fragmentary elevation partly in section showing my improved construction applied to a furnace top;

Figure 2 is a view of Figure las seen from the left;

. Figure 3 is a plan view of the shown in Figure l and Figure 4 is a view on a smaller scale show-x ing the relation of the skip incline to the blast furnace.

Referring lirst to Figure 4, the blast fur.- nace 11 is supported upon the foundation 12 and is provided at kits lupper end with the frame 13 supporting the bell operating levers 15 and 16, the frame .being supported upon the' furnace shell. The skip incline 1 7 is supported at its lower end upon foundation 18 and is supported at an intermediate point by the A-frame 19 which frame is supported construction upon the furnace foundation 12. The'upper end 20 of the skip incline is of cantilever. f

bell 27. This bell 27 is carried upon steml 28 which is connected by chain 29 to the end 30 of the rock lever 15 which is pivoted upon shell. The small bell 35 is carried bythe tubular` the cross shaft 32. The shaft 32 is supported on the cross frame 33 which latter is carried by the frame 34 from the top of the furnace stem 36, which latter surrounds the stem 28 of the large bell. The small bell 35 closes the lower end of the receiving hopper 37. As best shown in Figure 2, the upper end of .the tubular stem 36 is connected to the yoke 38 which latter is suspended from the K'pair of rockers 16 by means 0f rods 39 and chains 40. This rock lever 16 is also supported on V the pivot shaft 32 which lat-ter is supported the incline.

fromthe furnace top vas above described.

The upper end 20 of the skip incline carries the platform 41 upon which are supported the pulleys 42 over which pass the cables 43 which serve to draw the skips 44 to the top of In the construction above described, the

y large and small bells 27 and 35 are supported entirely independently of the skip incline.

Any movement of the upper end of the furf nace will cause al similar movement of the bells inasmuch as they are supported directly from the furnace. The location of the bells will be entirely independent of the vibration of the skip car travel and ofdeiection and side thrust resulting from weight of the skip such changes and modifications to meet thel varying conditions of different installations, as may come within the spirit and Vscope of the appended claim.

I claim i Blast furnace construction comprising a bell supporting frame `carried by the furnace structure, a skip incline structure supported independently of the furnace, and idler pul-k leys carried by the skip incline coacting with bell operating cables whereby the vlateral thrust of such cables is received by the independent skip incline structure.

S of ay, 1924.

FREDERICK H. WILLooX.'

iened at Chicago, Illinois, this 14th dayl 

